


we won't get it back(when we die)

by SleeplessAndHopeful



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Hanahaki Disease, Hurt No Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:54:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21649399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleeplessAndHopeful/pseuds/SleeplessAndHopeful
Summary: Falling in love in a killing game has unexpected consequences.
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede/Chabashira Tenko, Chabashira Tenko/Yumeno Himiko
Kudos: 23





	we won't get it back(when we die)

Tenko had always been one to rise bright and early. She got plenty of time to herself before she has to face the rest of her class. Enough time to shower, get dressed, do some simple stretches... The body discovery announcement rang in the middle of her warm-up routine. "A body has been discovered! Now, after a certain amount of time has passed, the Class Trial will begin!" Tenko immediately dropped what she was doing in favor of finding where everyone was and finding, well, who had died. She skittered out of her room, not caring that she was still in her workout clothes. It certainly didn't take her long to find everyone, with everyone clustered around Kaede's dorm. Tenko had seen four murdered bodies before: Kiibo, Kirumi, Ryoma, and Gonta, but even that couldn't prepare her for seeing Kaede slumped in her chair with blood dripping from her mouth. When she stepped in, Shuichi was talking with Korekiyo and tucking a paper into his breast pocket. "Oh, Tenko! Would you mind checking the kitchen- I think she may have been poisoned." With what seemed like a little too much of a hurry, the detective led Tenko out of the room. 'Weird, but he's probably on edge from Kaede dying,' Tenko reasoned as she hustled off. 

Of course she didn't find anything. Nothing was out of place in the kitchen, no hints of powder or a bottle or ANYTHING. Tenko tapped her foot impatiently in the elevator, trying to fit everything she knew together. It all pointed to Shuichi. The weird paper he had in his pocket. How impatient he was to get her away from the body (Maki had even commented about it, that's how strange it was). How he seemed like he knew something everyone else didn't. The way Shuichi kept glancing at her when he thought she wasn't looking. Why Shuichi wouldn't let her into Kaede's room or into Kaede's talent lab. 'Scared that I've already figured you out, degenerate?' Tenko thought, standing protectively between him and Himiko. Himiko had tagged along during the investigation, but she hadn't found anything, either. Almost too soon, the doors opened into the courtroom. The walls and podiums were coated in crawling vines that tickled Tenko's skin as she walked by and stood at her place, right beside one Kokichi Ouma. He had his usual sly smirk in place, eyeing Kaede's portrait. ...which had a vine curling around it with a single white flower, on top of the stylized X over her image. Tenko gripped the edge of her podium as Monokuma prattled off the rules, ready to fire out her accusation. 

"Shui-" 

“Actually, Monokuma, before we begin the discussion, may I please ask a question? The bear in question snaps awake, and Tenko wonders for a moment how he fell asleep so quickly. 

“Already did, but fire away, toots.” 

“Does this case even have a blackened?” For a split second, Tenko swears she sees Shuichi glancing over at her. 

“You can bet your sorry little ahoge it does! I even took the time out of my beary busy schedule to play the body discovery announcement AND set up this very special trial room! It’s a tit-for-tat world out there, Shuichi. I’ve already given you plenty of tit, so gimme some tat by letting me have my thrillingly despairing execution, mmmmkay?” 

“...” Shuichi bites his bottom lip, now clearly looking between Tenko and Korekiyo. 

“What, putting the wood on ALREADY?” As Monokuma cackles away about his joke(if you could even call it one), Shuichi mumbles something under his breath. “Pardon?” 

“I said, ‘Korekiyo, please give her the letter.’” 

“Ah. Yes, of course I will, Shuichi. Monokuma, if I may.” Korekiyo waits for a nod from the bear before sweeping over to Tenko’s podium. In his hands is a letter addressed to her in a tight, looping sort of handwriting, and he looks almost… apologetic? 

“My deepest apologies about this, Tenko.” 

“My my my, whatever could this mysterious letter be? Oooh, the suspense is KILLING me! I can’t possibly bear it any more!” Tenko flips the letter over before the bear can say anything else, and notices that it was sealed with a pretty flower sticker. It’s a little loose, as if it were opened once and re-stuck, but that isn’t the point. She gingerly unfolds the pages, and starts reading. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hey Tenko! How has your life been? Well, if you’re reading this, you probably already know that I’m dead. If I didn’t die of… I’ll get to that later, but if I was killed, I trust that you’ll be finding my killer before anyone could say “degenerate male!” Do get along with everyone left, okay? Even the guys? But… that isn’t why I’m writing this letter. Tenko, I’m dying. You’re probably asking, ‘Why did she write this to me and not, say, Shuichi?’ Well, for one, Shuichi probably already knows what’s up, but two… 

Tenko, I love you. Really, more “I’m in love with you” than “I love you” because you already have Himiko, right? I’m happy for you and Himiko, I really am, but… I have Hanahaki, and it’s been progressing at a breakneck speed. I’ve been trying my best to mask everything, to put on my best face for everyone(especially you and Shuichi)! But I know I don’t have much time left. There’s probably blood on this paper! But I had to get this down. I had to at least let you know, even if it’s after I’ve already died. I’m sorry. I hope you’re happy with Himiko. 

Yours Truly, Kaede Akamatsu. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

It’s not until Himiko has physically pulled the paper from her hands that Tenko realizes that she’s been crying. She can only barely register Himiko tugging at the bottom of her shirt, instead trying to process everything she’s just read. Kaede… was in love with her? And she died from it? “Why didn’t she tell me…” 

“I held you away from the investigation on purpose, Tenko,” Shuichi says, fiddling with a familiar slip of paper, “I kinda already knew what had happened, and I wanted to know if you were gonna be… you know…” 

The horrific images of Rantaro, Miu, and Angie’s executions flashes into her mind, and with the letter confessing that Kaede had caught (and died from) Hanahaki over Tenko… 

“I’m the blackened.” There’s no sense of relief or justice when the answer becomes clear, unlike the last three cases. Just a sickening, calm sense of finality. “I’m sorry,” Shuichi answers. 

“I wanted to save your life, since you didn’t actually want to hurt Kaede and you didn’t know about the Hanahaki, but-” 

“H-HOLD ON!” To everyone’s surprise, Himiko’s wavering voice rings out across the trial room. 

“Ten-Tenko can’t be the b-b-blackened!” Tenko can see Shuichi worry his bottom lip some more as he prepares to argue against Himiko’s defense of her.

  


"How do we know the letter wasn't faked? Someone could've copied Kaede's handwriting..." 

_(ADVANCE!)_

"Tenko was nowhere near the kitchen, so she couldn't have poisoned Kaede." 

_(ADVANCE!)_

"Tenko would never hurt Kaede, intentional or otherwise!" 

_(ADVANCE!)_

"Hanahaki isn't real, so there must be something else..." 

_(THE FINAL BLOW!)_

_**(JAR OF PETALS)**_

_**  
** _

"The... what?" Tenko's own voice seemed so far away, even after watching Himiko weakly fight against Shuichi's words. Korekiyo produced a jar filled to the brim with petals, flowers, and leaves. Some of the white florals were tinged pink with... blood. 

"This was in Kaede's talent lab, along with the letter I handed you. Gladiolus flowers and tea leaves. Gladiolus is commonly known as the warrior's flower, and your own last name, Tenko, refers to an omen where a loose tea leaf stands upright in a cup." 

"LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE OURSELVES A CONCLUSION! Now, using the handy-dandy tablets in front of you, vote for who you think is the blackened! If you vote wrong, they get to go free, and if you vote right, only they get executed! Make sure to vote, or else you're history either way!" Tenko's finger wavered over her own portrait, her mind barely registering everything that had just happened. Kokichi leaned over and poked the screen for her. 

"Has everyone voted? Yep! Now, let's see our results..." The dreaded wheel spun and spun right before everyone's eyes, slowing after an eternity and stopping... right on Tenko. The vote was unanimous. 

"Wow! Correct-a-mundo! Looks like you meatbags all voted correctly for once! Our blackened is the big lesbian herself, TENKO CHABASHIRA!" Everyone stepped back from the podiums as they receded back into the ground. The usual, dreaded silence hung over the seven survivors and doomed eighth, only broken by Himiko's sobbing. There was no justice, no relief that usually came with discovering a blackened. Everyone just looked... sad, really. Even Maki. 

"Wow, I think that sets a record for fastest trial yet!" Kokichi grinned, "Awfully nice of Kaede to just leave behind a letter telling us who killed her-" 

"TENKO DIDN'T KILL HER!" Himiko snapped back, balling her hands into fists, "K-Kaede got sick, and-and... d-didn't tell a-a-anyone." Himiko hugged Tenko and bawled into her shirt. The end loomed so, so close... without thinking, Tenko reached up, untied her signature pinwheel bow from her hair, and pressed it into Himiko's hands. 

"To remember me by," she whispered. Her voice cracked, tiny and shaken and hoarse. She didn't want to die. 

"Now then, I've prepared a thrilling punishment for our Ultimate Aikido Master!" A clamp descended from the ceiling, digging into Tenko's foot. She didn't have long left. 

"I love you… I'm sorry," she murmured into Himiko's ear the moment before she was dragged away. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

**GAME OVER**

**TENKO CHABASHIRA HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY**

**TIME FOR THE PUNISHMENT.**

  


**HEEL GIRL, HEEL!**

**ULTIMATE AIKIDO MASTER**

**TENKO CHABASHIRA'S EXECUTION: EXECUTED**

The scene unfolded before them, not unlike a pop-up book. Tenko was tethered to a vine-choked tree with a chain, one end of which was lodged firmly in Tenko's heel. There's a horde of Monokumas sharpening their claws on the tree, slowly but surely weakening the base of it. She scrambled to her feet, though not without a wince, and starts to fight them. Tenko took several of the Monokumas out in a flurry of punches, kicks, and flips, but as she wrecked one or two, more and more appeared to take their places. The crowd thinned, after a while. Tenko moved to destroy the last few... and ripped the clamp out of her skin. She screamed in pain and fell, triggering the arrival of a thousand-fold more Monokumas to batter the tree. Inevitably, the tree fell. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Himiko screamed a sob as blood seeped out from under the fallen tree. Tenko! Tenko was dead! She buried her nose in the dead girl's bow to feel something, anything. She hadn't even been dead for five minutes and she already felt like a distant memory. Korekiyo set a hand on her shoulder as she sobbed, eyes far-off. 

"What a cruel end, to be punished for nothing."

**Author's Note:**

> woohoo i finally finished this monster! im happy with how it turned out,,, i love tenkaede so writing this HURT ME but in all the best ways...


End file.
